Page 49 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

“You know…” Mae paused with one hand on the door handle. “You didn’t have to do this. Spend the day with us, I mean.”

I also paused, and a flutter of anticipation swept through my lower gut. “Honestly, I’m glad I did. I wanted to, and also, I still feel guilty for hiding who I was. I want to make it up to you, if I can.”

“I’m not sure it counts as hiding if we didn’t talk enough for it to come up,” Mae pointed out with a smile. “But I appreciate that. Though if you do get bored, there’s no hard feelings if you want to resort to quietly stalking me from a distance like Dino.”

“Dino’s an asshole,” I scoffed.

“Mom!” Zack yelled from inside the car. “Hurry up!”

“Alright, alright.” Laughing, Mae slid into the car, and I entered the driver’s seat to take them both home.

Upon arrival, Mae invited me inside but left me with her mother as she took Zack upstairs to wash up before dinner. My quiet exploration of the kitchen ended when I leaned up from trying to guess what smelled so good in the oven and came face to face with an elderly woman wrapped in a blue shawl. Her face was pinched, and she clutched crumpled tissues in one hand.

“Who are you?” she demanded sharply.

“I’m Jian. I’m a—” A what? A friend? Crush? Bodyguard? “Mae invited me in.”

“Did she now?” Irritation swept across her elderly face, and she flapped her other hand to wave me away from the oven. “Are you staying for dinner?”

“I’m only here for?—”

“Yes, he is,” Mae cut in, reappearing in the doorway with a very tired but clean Zack in her arms. “You can spare him a place, can’t you?”

Despite her grumblings, Mae’s mother did indeed serve me a plate of the lasagna she had been cooking, and we settled down for a nice meal. There was an interesting warmth about sharing a meal with Mae’s family, and part of me couldn’t wait to rub it in Dino’s face. The food was delicious, although Mae’s mother simply looked insulted when I complimented her. There were a hundred reasons she might not like me, but I did wonder if it was because of Zack.

After all, his father was out there somewhere, even though Mae hadn’t said a word about him other than at the restaurant. The last thing I wanted her mother thinking was that I was trying to muscle in.

Near the end of the meal, Zack was so tired that his head nearly touched the plate. As Mae moved to help him up, her mother was on her feet.

“Let me,” she said, reaching to help Zack down from his chair. “I haven’t seen him all day and I miss him. Come on, kiddo.”

Zack didn’t care either way and leaned into his grandmother as she escorted him out of the kitchen. I listened to each individual creak of the staircase while Mae gathered up the plates and started doing the dishes.

Once I was certain grandmother and child were safely upstairs, I stood and moved behind Mae as she plunged her hands into the hot, soapy water and scrubbed away.

“Thanks for dinner,” I said softly, standing behind her. I intended to help with the dishes, half-eyeing the cloth for drying, but I immediately became distracted by Mae. She pressed back into me with a long sigh.

“Thank you for helping out today.”

“It’s no problem.”

“No, I mean… seeing Zack having fun like that was nice. He’s such a shy boy sometimes, always buried in a book or his iPad or something, and in the city, I always try to get out with him more. Even here, it’s been a little tough, so it was just nice to see him so happy and having fun. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. It was just… nice.”

“Anytime,” I murmured low in her ear.

Soapsuds slowly slid down her left forearm. I reached out and caught them with my fingertips, sliding them slowly up to her elbow. The subs melted into her skin, leaving nothing between my touch and her warmth. Rather than pull away to do the job I intended, I stayed behind her and stroked both her arms with my fingertips.

“Time to yourself must be rare, too,” I said, tucking my face into the heat of her soft neck. Mae’s head fell to the side and a soft, sweet sigh escaped her parted lips.

“You’ve no idea,” she replied. “These few weeks have been the most freedom I’ve had in years. It’s been… bliss.”

“Time to yourself makes your mind run wild, I bet.” I moved my hands to her abdomen, stroking south past her navel and then further still. Each movement was slow, giving her plenty of time to tell me to stop or change her mind. But as my left hand pressed through her skirt and cupped her mound, Mae shifted her stance and spread her legs wider.

“We really should do the dishes,” she gasped. Her head fell to the side, and I peppered several sweet, open-mouthed kisses down the column of her throat. At the juncture of her shoulder, I nibbled along to the spaghetti strap of her top while dipping my hand down her skirt and into the heat of her underwear.

“I know something else I’d like to do,” I murmured in her ear after kissing back up to the soft skin at her jaw.

“Oh, God.” Mae laughed. “So corny.” She moved both her hands to grip the sink, and I wound my other arm around her waist to keep her steady. Dipping two fingers into her heat, just one touch of her slick core was enough to send heat sparking down my spine. My cock swelled immediately, and as soon as it pressed against the confines of my clothes, I ground forward into her ass so she could feel it.

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